Front suspension is finished. but not aligned yet. its going for its alignment on saturday morning I can't wait to drive it when its all aligned. should handle much much better.
existing strut out and in bits. just need the spring had and rubber cover/bump stops for the new struts.
the height difference in the springs. new springs on the right i was beginning to think the car was going to be slammed
Complete strut ready to go in...well at least i thought
more evidence of how poorly these cars were built yep, the 3 holes in the strut tower were not 100% correct. and the original strut tops didnt line up with the new tops. could even see the holes and removable threads in the original strut tops were not symmetrical, meaning if i tried to fit my stock strut tops to another car, there is a good chance they would not fit lol
so after getting the tops to fit to the car, the driver's side was in. once i knew what i was doing and what i was up for, the passenger side, with the help of dad, was done, and car back on its wheels and driving with brakes bled and all, by dinner time tuesday
the finished product from the engine bay. look a little tidier than the factory tops in my opinion.
Now for the alignment issue. Because I'm already running an adjustable Kmac sway bar before rebuilding the struts, to correct caster, the front wheels were always sitting a long way forward in the wheel arches, and caused clearance issues with the front valance, which i carefully massaged to get it out the way.
I have the car booked in on saturday morning to get the front end aligned. At first, Peter, the guy i use, said yep no worries, won't take long. but then i added the fact I have added components to allow the whole front end to be dialled in and adjusted, he asked me to book it in saturday morning instead haha. I know peter owns some classic 50s and 70s Renaults, both stock restored and modified so I know he will do a good job.
ANYWAY, because the new tops have both camber and caster adjustment, I wanted to start with the control arms in a neutral position, forward and back, as much as possible. So for now I have wound the arms back as far as they will go on the adjustable sway bar, which looks good now with the wheels sitting in the middle of the arches. so i will see what happens on saturday as to how much Peter needs to drag the arms forward again.
Before.
After. (Today in fact)
Now the car is sitting pretty much exactly the same height as it did before, because the front suspension setup I'm using adds about an inch to the ride height, hence the new springs being an inch lower than what i had. BUT, on paper, and doing some measuring, the car should in actual fact sit about 10mm lower than it previously did up front. keeping in mind the alignment is miles out, and i haven't actually driven it any further than the end of my street, means that by the time the alignment is sorted, and the springs settle/sag a little, it should drop the front ride height a touch.